Lawmakers discuss future of death penalty LITTLE ROCK. (AP) — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel met with state legislators on Wednesday to discuss what he says is a broken death penalty system, but stopped short of advocating a way to change the fact that Arkansas hasn't executed an inmate since 2005. "As I see it, our options are limited," he said before a joint meeting of the House and Senate judiciary committees. "We can continue throwing money into a broken system and dedicating re...

Officials from Arkansas, Korea meet at Capitol LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The “forgotten war” in Korea was the focus of a remembrance at the Arkansas Capitol on Wednesday, when state officials and Korean dignitaries gathered to honor veterans and their families to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting. It will have been 60 years ago on Saturday that hostilities ended, but without a peace treaty between the North and South. Several dozen veterans were on hand in the Rotunda, more than a ...

Senators propose tax relief after oil spill LITTLE ROCK. (AP) — US Senators Mark Pryor and John Boozman have introduced legislation to exempt from federal taxes all Arkansans who receive compensation from ExxonMobil for the Mayflower pipeline oil spill. The legislation introduced Wednesday is similar to a bill introduced last week by Republican Rep. Tim Griffin and that is supported by the Arkansas congressional delegation. The Mayflower Oil Spill Tax Relief Act of 2013 by Pryor — a Dem...

Lawmakers air frustrations with parole system LITTLE ROCK (AP) — State lawmakers aired more frustrations with Arkansas’ parole system on Wednesday after a parolee who was allowed to remain free despite multiple felony charges allegedly killed a man in May. “It appears the Department of Community Correction is almost set up for failure,” Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, said during a joint meeting of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. “... I think it’s a very difficult job, no mat...

Ad, outreach blitz underway for health care exchange LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A $24 million marketing and outreach blitz underway in Arkansas will train hundreds of workers about how to sign up residents for the state’s insurance marketplace under the federal health care law and pay for ads at hundreds of gas pumps. State insurance officials are trying to reach the roughly 500,000 people who are expected to sign up for insurance through the exchange, an online marketplace where the uninsured can purch...

Fayetteville Clinton museum looks at JFK meeting FAYETTEVILLE (AP) — The Clinton House Museum in Fayetteville on Wednesday announced the unveiling of an exhibit looking back at Bill Clinton’s meeting with President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago. Clinton was at Boys Nation on July 24, 1963, when a photographer documented the future president shaking hands with Kennedy in the White House Rose Garden. The image resurfaced as Clinton made his run for the presidency in 1992 and he was presented wi...

House GOP, Democrats clash over immigration WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans took a tentative step toward offering citizenship to some unauthorized immigrants Tuesday, but hit an immediate wall of resistance from the White House on down as Democrats said it wasn’t enough. The dismissive reaction to the GOP proposal to offer eventual citizenship to some immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children underscored the difficulties of finding any compromise in the Republican-led Hou...

GOP, Dems divided alike on foreign policy issues WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s limited attempt to end more than two years of bloodshed in Syria and his insistence on U.S. assistance to a strife-riven Egypt have exposed deep divisions in Congress, with pockets of grudging support countered by fierce opposition toward greater American military and financial involvement among Democrats and Republicans alike. The uneven reaction is partly a reflection of the Obama administration’s o...

Texas attorney general campaigns from wheelchair HOUSTON (AP) — The stage at a Houston honky-tonk has a wheelchair ramp. At another rally, Greg Abbott’s aides lay plywood boards on the ground to make a smooth path over wet grass. Other stops have no speaking platform, making it hard for standing crowds to see the candidate at all. It’s another day on the campaign trail for Abbott, the longtime Texas attorney general who is paralyzed from the waist down, as he tells voters his personal and po...

Obama, lawmakers square off over NSA authority WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration squared off with skeptical lawmakers Tuesday over efforts to terminate the government’s authority to collect phone records of millions of Americans, a proposition that exposed sharp divisions among members of Congress. With a vote nearing on amendments to a $598.3 million bill to fund the military, the White House raised the alarm over a move to end the National Security Agency’s authority under the U...

Lawmaker urges steps to open Japanese markets WASHINGTON (AP) — A House Democratic leader on trade policy on Tuesday said the time is right to press Japan on its closed markets as Japan formally joins the United States and 10 other Asia-Pacific nations in negotiations to create a major new trade bloc. Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, proposed that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks should link the reduction of U.S. auto tariffs to the ...

AP Exclusive: NKorea halts rocket launch-pad work SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has stopped construction work at a site meant to launch bigger and better long-range rockets, a possible sign that Pyongyang is slowing or even halting development of larger rockets, according to a new analysis of recent satellite imagery. The sight of unfinished roads and grass growing from the foundation of a large new rocket assembly building could be welcome news for Washington and others who see Pyong...

FDA cracks down on illegal diabetes remedies WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on more than a dozen companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription. All of the products aim to cash in on the country’s diabetes epidemic, which affects nearly 26 million Americans. Regulators worry that consumers who buy such unapproved products could put off getting legit...

AG says no to 2016 gay marriage plan language LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas’ attorney general said Tuesday that a proposed petition that would put a gay-marriage ballot question before voters in 2016 was ambiguous in a number of places and would need to be reworked before its backers can collect signatures. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said that when the group Arkansas Initiative for Marriage Equality speaks of the “right to marry,” it is not clear whether it considers that a right to m...

Hutchinson calls for phased-in cut of income tax LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday called for gradually reducing Arkansas’ income tax, embracing an approach that he criticized during his unsuccessful bid for the state’s top office seven years ago. Speaking to the Political Animals Club, Hutchinson said the state’s income tax rate is too high and prevents the state from competing with its neighbors. He compared phasing in an income tax cut to Demo...

Griffin proposes tax relief after oil spill LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An Arkansas congressman is proposing tax relief for people affected by the oil spill in Mayflower this year. Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin said Monday that people affected the oil spill deserve to be compensated, and he says they shouldn’t have to pay more taxes because of that compensation. ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured on March 29 and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in Mayflower. The spill damaged propertie...

Anthony Weiner caught in another sexting scandal NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Weiner found himself caught in another sexting scandal Tuesday like the one that destroyed his congressional career, but stood side-by-side with his wife to say he won’t drop out of the race for mayor of New York. “This is entirely behind me,” Weiner said at an evening news conference, hours after the gossip website The Dirty posted X-rated text messages and a crotch shot that it said the former congressman exchanged wi...

No signs Washington to come to Detroit’s rescue WASHINGTON (AP) — During the bleakest days of the Great Recession, Congress agreed in bipartisan votes to bail out two of Detroit’s biggest businesses, General Motors and Chrysler. Today, however, there seems little appetite from either Democrats or Republicans in Washington for a federal rescue of the birthplace of the automobile industry. Detroit now stands as the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy protection. Such a bailout w...

Obama’s inaugural ambitions meet political reality WASHINGTON (AP) — Six months ago, President Barack Obama stood on the Capitol steps and offered a soaring liberal vision for his second term. Buoyed by re-election, he said the nation must pursue without delay steps to protect children from gun violence, tackle climate change and overhaul fractured immigration laws. But the intervening months have showcased the political limits of Obama’s ambitions. The result has been an uneven and sometimes ...

EPA grant goes to UAMSLITTLE ROCK (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding a $215,295 grant to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for pesticide management. UAMS says the Environmental Education Grant will be used to educate teachers, middle school students and parents on pesticide management practices and the reduction of the use of chemicals in homes. EPA regional administrator Ron Curry says the project is intended to increase awar...